Darius Jennings and Dominique Terrell will have to be impact true freshmen for Virginia WRs coach Shawn Moore

Before true freshmen Darius Jennings and Dominique Terrell caught their first passes in a Virginia football practice, Shawn Moore already knew he was going to get the chance to work with a couple of guys that shared some similarities with him.

At the very least, Jennings and Terrell are experiencing something new this preseason, like Moore did last year.

Jennings and Terrell were senior quarterbacks last season in high school, and both were recruited by U.Va. to play wide receiver. Moore, who was one of U.Va.’s most decorated quarterbacks in his college career (1986-90), is beginning his second year as the Cavaliers’ receivers coach. Last season was his first as a college coach.

How has the learning process gone for Jennings and Terrell? They’ll both be in the two-deep Saturday when U.Va. opens its season against William & Mary. They’re going to play, and play a lot, in the early stages of the season.

"They're dynamic with the ball in their hands," Moore said. "It's going to be really exciting to have them on the field. They bring something we really haven't had in a long time. We knew when we recruited those guys that they were going to have an opportunity to play if they were as dynamic as they appeared in high school, and they've really transitioned into college receivers because both were quarterbacks. They're something to watch when they get the ball in their hands."

Perhaps the speedy learning process at receiver isn’t too surprising considering both guys were rated by many recruiting analysts to be among the nation’s top 20 athlete prospects, and both of them were told in high school to get ready for early playing time.

With Kris Burd back after leading the team in receiving with 58 catches for 799 yards and five touchdowns last season, it’s not as if Jennings and Terrell will have to become prime target A and prime target B for quarterback Michael Rocco from the start.

U.Va. hasn’t had a true freshman wide receiver lead the team in receiving since 1999, when Billy McMullen had 28 catches for 483 yards and six touchdowns (tied with Kevin Coffey for team lead in receptions; McMullen also came to U.Va. after spending a year at Fork Union Military Academy). Yet, Moore expects Jennings and Terrell to be prepared when passes come their direction.

"We do a lot of ball drills with receivers, before practice, during practice and after practice," Moore said. "It's not like it's something new to them. They catch a lot of footballs during the course of a practice session. There will be times when they'll have a tough adjustment. They're going to drop some passes this year, but I think as they continue to play the position and go through the position and the routine drills that we do every day, they'll get better and better at catching the football.”

At the Gilman School in Baltimore, Md., Jennings ran for 1,592 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior to go along with 656 yards passing and five touchdowns. Terrell ran for 2,077 yards, passed for 1,430 yards and scored 45 rushing and passing touchdowns in his senior season at Osbourn High in Manassas.

Moore believes the move to receiver for both players was aided by the fact they orchestrated offenses that hinged on Jennings and Terrell being able to move the ball with their feet first and their arm second.

"Those guys had the ball in their hands on every snap, and 70 percent of the time, they were running the football,” Moore said. “So, they know what it's like to dip and slip tacklers and to run with the ball in their hands. They weren't your pro-style quarterbacks. I think it was an easier transition for those guys than it would be a guy like, say, Miles Gooch."

Gooch, who is about to begin his redshirt freshman year at U.Va., was moved in the spring from quarterback to receiver. In his ’09 senior season at Towers High in Decatur, Ga., Gooch led a passing offense with 2,204 passing yards and 19 touchdowns, plus 500 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.

What about Moore? He was quite the dual-threat himself at U.Va., considering he was the only Division I-A (that’s what they called it back then, kids) quarterback in 1989 to pass for more than 2,000 yards and rush for more than 500 yards. He finished his U.Va. career with 6,629 passing yards and 1,268 rushing yards. Given his athleticism, was he ever considered a candidate to play another position other than quarterback?

"I was too articulate and too smart and too educated really to move to an athlete-type position,” Moore said. “I brought too much to the table intellectually, so that wasn't going to happen."

Moore is obviously as quick now with a light-hearted jab at his young athletes as he was on his feet as a player.

Moore’s job will involve more evaluation this season, if nothing else because he has more bodies to consider. Last season, after Tim Smith went out for the rest of the fall after the second game due to a foot injury, Moore was left with essentially three players – Burd, Dontrelle Inman and Matt Snyder – to carry the bulk of the receiving responsibilities.

Moore said those three guys logged 95 percent of the receiver reps after Smith was lost for the season. Now, U.Va. will enter the season with as many as eight players capable of getting on the field, including Burd, Snyder, Jennings, Terrell and Smith.

"I know (last season) took a toll on those guys because Dontrelle was hurting at the end of the season, even Matt Snyder, who took the spring off with (a knee) injury, and Burd had to have (ankle) surgery," Moore said. "It just takes a toll on your body. I think by having six, even seven guys that you can turn to really gives them a break during the course of a football game and gives an opportunity to be fresh in the fourth quarter."

Snyder, who had 30 catches for 393 yards last season, is encouraged by the prospects of having more versatility and some different looks at the receiver positions with so many more options. In reference to the knee injury that kept him out of spring practice, he said he was wearing a brace early in the preseason practices, but he has since shed it and feels 100 percent.

"Having depth at the position is great because we can run a lot of personnel groups and keep people fresh," Snyder said. "When (Moore is) looking at us at halftime, he's not looking at a bunch of guys that look like they just ran a marathon. He's looking at guys that look like they're ready to start another game."

Snyder is beginning the final season of what has been nothing short of a meteoric rise during his college career. He came to U.Va. from Deep Run High in Glen Allen as a walk-on before earning a scholarship in the summer of 2010. Now, he’s a team captain.

Keeping teammates motivated through early a.m. practices is one of Snyder’s many duties as captain. U.Va. has opened practice every day this preseason at the non-sports reporter friendly (unless you’re notorious early-riser David Teel) time of 6:25 a.m. Cavaliers coach Mike London plans to continue the routine throughout the fall.

Snyder said one group of players meets at 6:25 to put in weight room work every morning, while another group of players gathers at that time for meetings that last until 8 a.m. The groups will flip those tasks on the next day. Full team practice begins at 8 and lasts until about 10:15.
"We were a little apprehensive in the beginning when we were getting up," Snyder said. "It's never fun hearing your alarm at 5:30, but the more we do it and the better practices are looking, the more I'm liking it. It's nice to get practice in and have the rest of the day to look at the film and review it and get a little more game prep in with opponent film and, actually, just have time to go to class and study hall and everything like that."

Though Burd is obviously expected to be the top option for whichever quarterback winds up spending the most time under center, Jennings and Terrell may actually get a few more looks early in the season since Burd and Smith are still rounding into physical shape, according to Moore. Eventually, Moore believes all four receivers could emerge as guys with sufficient speed to operate as deep threats.

"I'm hoping that Timmy Smith is back full-go," Moore said. "I think both the young kids present a threat deep-wise. I think when Kris gets healthy, because he's still working through some kinks, I think we'll have an opportunity to have possibly four guys who will be deep threats for us."

Given his experience at quarterback, Moore has kept a close watch on what’s taken place at U.Va.’s quarterback spot this preseason. He’s confident Rocco or Hampton High graduate David Watford, a true freshman who is expected to see playing time as a backup to Rocco against W&M, can deliver strong passes regardless of what pass routes are run.

"I think both kids can make all the throws right now," Moore said. "That's the one thing as a coach you're very happy to see that they can make all the reads and make all the throws. I think with both kids, even more so with Rocco, they just need game repetitions. If Watford's going to play, he obviously needs game repetitions to just really get better at doing it. They both can make every single throw and they're dynamic with the ball in their hands. I think in time, probably by October, we won't even be having the conversation about quarterbacks because they'll be making all the throws."

Speaking of W&M, Moore has his own unpleasant recollections of playing against the Tribe. He said he remembers being shocked when he saw the score in U.Va.’s ’09 season-opener – a 26-14 W&M win in Scott Stadium – but it wasn’t much different than his reaction to the W&M game in his first year in Charlottesville.

“Probably the same way I felt in '86 when we came in as true freshmen and lost to them,” said Moore, who was referring to W&M’s 41-37 win in Nov. ’86 at U.Va., which was the last time the Tribe beat the Cavaliers prior to the ’09 game (six straight U.Va. wins in the series between ’86 and ’09).

"Every time they come to town, I have a grudge match with them - mentally, it's a grudge match with those guys. (W&M coach Jimmye) Laycock does an outstanding job. They're always going to be prepared, always going to be ready to play. This is probably their Super Bowl, so they're going to be amped and ready."